EL PASO, Texas, June 25, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- El
Paso's art scene gained ground yesterday with a ceremonial
groundbreaking of Artspace El Paso Lofts, a 51-unit building of
affordable live/work housing for artists and their families with
multipurpose, nonprofit commercial space. The estimated
$12.7 million project is funded in
part by a $500,000 Affordable Housing
Program (AHP) grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas (FHLB Dallas) and Wells Fargo.
The project is a partnership of the nonprofit organization
Artspace, the El Paso Community Foundation, and the city of
El Paso.
"Artspace is thrilled to have received the AHP grant and to move
the project forward. We will use it for architectural and
engineering costs related to construction," said Sarah White, director of Property Development
for Artspace Projects, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. "We work quite closely
with Wells Fargo across the country. They are very supportive of
our mission to create, foster, and preserve affordable space for
artists and arts organizations."
A five-story building, Artspace El Paso Lofts will be located at
601 N. Oregon Street, site of the former El Paso Saddleblanket
facility. HHL Architects, in collaboration with ASA Architects of
El Paso, completed the initial
design that includes plans for 51 live/work artist apartments with
large windows for natural light, a central meeting/gallery space,
and 5,000 square feet of commercial storefront on the first floor.
Occupancy is estimated to begin in the second or third quarter of
2016.
"Artspace El Paso is a unique arrangement of affordable housing
and commercial space that Wells Fargo is very pleased to support,"
said Linda Nelson, client service
consultant with Wells Fargo Community Lending & Investment.
"The project represents a deepening commitment to the
revitalization of El Paso's
downtown district, and we are thrilled to be a part of it in
collaboration with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas."
AHP grants are available through FHLB Dallas member
institutions, such as Wells Fargo. The grants assist in the
development of affordable, owner-occupied and rental housing for
very low- to moderate-income households located primarily within
FHLB Dallas's five-state District of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New
Mexico, and Texas. In 2014,
FHLB Dallas awarded $9.8 million in
AHP grants to 33 projects that will result 1,586 new or renovated
housing units. In the third quarter of 2015, FHLB Dallas will award
$7.6 million in AHP grant funding
through its member institutions.
"FHLB Dallas is committed to serving the needs of our members
who are vital advocates for their communities," said Greg Hettrick, vice president and director of
Community Investment at FHLB Dallas. "We are honored to support
Artspace El Paso as the artists' community becomes a dynamic
contributor to El Paso's downtown
district."
The AHP grant in El Paso will
help to fill a need for affordable housing for artists in this city
of more than 682,000 people.
"We were invited by the El Paso Community Foundation to come to
El Paso to assess the feasibility
of doing an artist housing project. That was in 2008," Ms. White
said. "There is a really strong, vibrant arts community in
El Paso. We did a feasibility
study and determined from the more than 400 artist responses that
this project was of critical importance."
This is the third Artspace project in Texas, which includes Houston's Elder Street Artist Lofts and the
National Hotel Artist Lofts in Galveston. Artspace Projects was founded in
1979. To date, the organization has built or refurbished nearly
2,000 units in 14 states and the District
of Columbia.
"Artspace is a pretty unique group," Ms. White said. "There are
definitely other examples of artist housing, but I don't know that
there are any other developers that are as committed to artist
housing as we are."
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a
nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company
with $1.7 trillion in assets. Founded
in 1852 and headquartered in San
Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance,
investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through
more than 8,700 locations, 12,500 ATMs, and the internet
(wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 36
countries to support customers who conduct business in the global
economy. With approximately 266,000 team members, Wells Fargo
serves one in three households in the
United States. Wells Fargo
& Company was ranked No. 30 on Fortune's 2015 rankings of
America's largest corporations. Wells Fargo's vision is to satisfy all our
customers' financial needs and help them succeed
financially. Wells Fargo perspectives are also available at
Wells Fargo Blogs and Wells Fargo Stories.
About Artspace
Artspace is the nation's leader in
artist-led community transformation, with more than 35 projects in
operation across the country and another dozen in development,
representing a unique, $600 million investment in America's
arts infrastructure. Through its Consulting division, Artspace has
brought its hard-earned expertise to more than 300 cultural
planning efforts from coast-to-coast. With headquarters in
Minneapolis and offices in
Los Angeles, New Orleans,
New York, Seattle and
Washington D.C., Artspace has completed nearly 2,000
affordable live/work units for artists and their families as well
as more than a million square feet of non-residential space for
artists and arts organizations. Additional information is available
at www.artspace.org.
About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas
The Federal Home Loan Bank of
Dallas is one of 11 district banks
in the FHLBank System created by Congress in 1932. FHLB Dallas,
with total assets of $36.9 billion as
of March 31, 2015, is a member-owned
cooperative that supports housing and community development by
providing competitively priced advances and other credit products
to approximately 865 members and associated institutions in
Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New
Mexico, and Texas. For more
information, visit fhlb.com.
Contact:
Corporate Communications
Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas
www.fhlb.com
(214) 441-8445
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SOURCE Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas